Victory of Hope over Fear: The NaMo effect

Dear All

In one of my messages in this blog, I did write about Narendra Modi, as the choiceless choice. The verdict of election 2014 vindicates this fact making NaMo the 14^th Prime Minister of India. Well it is for the historians of contemporary times to judge on this traverse in our political landscape, but , I would like to discuss on a key element of this NaMo movement.

At a time when the aftershocks from the recession and Lehman crisis made the average American blink at a bleak future , a leader emerged with HOPE, with a clarion call of WE CAN. Similarly in India on the back drop of a series of scams and economic slowdown, a leader emerges with HOPE with his clarion call ‘’ Ache din anewale he (Good times to come...). On the contrary the congress leadership embarked on FEAR as the theme. The fear of an iconoclast in power.  A young and vibrant India chooses HOPE over FEAR. Its History now, Narendra Modi, as I wrote before, is proved to be the choice less choice.

Finally what is leadership all about? It is nothing about HOPE and TRUST. When he said, good times to come and ‘’ Mere uper Bharosa rakho” (Have trust in me), as like any leaders of the yesteryear's he was giving Hope for a population. This was what Mahatma Gandhi did, this was what Martin Luther king or Nelson Mandela did, energizing a population to work for a cause with hope…..

2014 will go in India’s History as a watershed year, a year where we have an opportunity to prove that, what Nehru and his family said were not necessarily right and there is always an alternative path, a new path for development. 

Let us  embrace it and follow ……..

Sanyasi

Bedroom Media

Dear all

This was a phenomenon, normally seen during the presidential election in the US, where political opponents scoops out sizzling details of personal lives of politicians and candidates. This US model has now come on stage in the India’s political landscape also. It started with Narendra Modi’ s marital status, and rumors of his abandoned wife Jashodaben. However there was nothing sizzling in this news as all of us knew that it was a case of an abandoned relationship from a child marriage, and there are no issues of any morality in it. The Gujarat chief minister remained a bachelor throughout his adult age and continues to be so.

The sad story of Shashi Taroor ,  the yesteryear's drama of NTR and Lakshmi Parvati, and the Illegitimate paternalism  of N D Tiwari , all falls in the same series  , but  more masala was seen in the confessed relationship of the 67 year old Dig Vijay Singh with the 43 year old TV anchor Amrita Rai. Well upon the flashing of this affair in the social media, both confessed to the relationship and have proclaimed to get married soon, as unfortunately marriage is the only sanctimonious institution to claim  legitimacy in our social milieu.

Well Dig Vijay Singh- Amrita Rai episode is made to be titillating only because Mr Singh is a politician and vociferous in his utterances, but the larger issue is on how much we debate on personal issues of public figures. While I am not going into the physiological aspects of  such  Apoorva- Raagangal, ( Tamil word meaning abnormal affairs), it need to be admitted that cupid  strikes anywhere any time and it is meaningless to look at it through the kaleidoscope of morality . Are we all Sati-Savitri s (read chaste) living with dreams and passion on our spouses? It is hypocritical to say so, as if not in action, in thoughts we are immoral if not always at least once. So what is the big deal in all this? For the media, it is an opportunity for stories and news and they have no qualms  in running around slinging mud on public figures . In fact I am proud of the former MP Chief Minister and his anchor heart throb as both have admitted the truth than being hypocritical. Best wishes to both of them. 

Sanyasi

Our Epic Tradition and changing Times:

Dear all,

While the Epic Serial Mahabharata takes center stage as a Television serial in Star plus, the much retold story is now in its second digital version. While we the X generation grew up seeing Ramanand sagar’s version, the new version appeals to the generation Y with its larger imprint on technology and animation. The appeal to this generation  from the youthfulness of the characters, compared to their potbellied counterparts of the yesteryears.  While in our joint families we heard our grandmother’s versions of the epics, in todays nuclearized ‘’Macdonald Families” these digital versions appears as yet another burger with a dose of commercialism squeezed in between.

Mahabharata with its 36000 verses is believed as a fifth Veda not because of any religious significance, but due to the socio-psychological message that the epic intends to convey by differentiating  righteousness and non–righteousness (Read as Dharma and adharma ) and on the inevitable victory of truth in the end. Besides the characterization and categorization of the plot have been made to bring in the central theme of Bhagavad Gita    and its universal message, to be spilled  across the subcontinent as an everlasting living philosophy.

On an historical prospective the epic reveals upon the omnipresent power politics and family feuds in courtrooms leading to a war at kurushetra which was nothing but evolved from the fuelled ambitions of the then urban kingdoms in the sapta sindhu (Indo-Gangetic) region. While the nucleus of the epic was an historical narration of the events around 800-1000 BC, the oral tradition of storytelling had swelled the narration to that of a voluminous epic by the 4^th Century AD. Further generations of its interpretations inculcated fables, parables, myths legends and deductive anthologies making it a grand Epic as it is read today. The belief that a single sage named Ved Vyas has written it entirely is a misnomer as the story is read as Vyasa Uvacha meaning Vyasa narrated where the Vyasa here is an agglomeration of a series of individuals christened as Vyasa or the learned one. (Please read ‘The great epic of India: Its Characters and origin “by Edward Washburn)

Today when we move away from oral tradition to a digital tradition of storytelling , hope the story remains as it is now and does not get into yet another silicon version. However for today’s generation, these episodes even though give enough food for thought even though for traditionalists like me, it is just a soup opera.

However kudos to the entire and cast for their best efforts. Praneet Bhat who plays Shakuni is the best of the lot.

Keep Seeing

Sanyasi

Section 377 and modern day blind men of Indostan:

Dear readers,

The current debate on homosexuality , spurred by the recent  judgment of the supreme court of India , reminds me of  the poem written by John Godfrey Saxe in the 19th Century, about three blind  men and an Elephant. As a respect to this classical poet, before I continue writing on the topic , let my readers read this apt poem........

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, -"Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he,
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
MORAL.
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!

Well as the moral of this poem goes, our moral custodians, legal luminaries , opportunistic politicians
and our so-called emancipated young generation are all describing an elephant called homosexuality...

The archaic law of Section 377 of Indian Penal code , was debated in the High Court, after an elaborate debate by the civil society and it was felt that the Law was discriminatory as it criminalizes consensual sex between adults if the sexual act is  done against the law of nature: So what is this act against the order of nature?  In many cases debated in India since 1925 , various  such acts were declared as unnatural, viz anal intercourse, oral sex, sex with animals  etc. The point of debate here , if the unnatural act is done by consensus, is it criminal ? Reading the text of the supreme court judgment, I felt that the judges were of the view that even if it is logically not criminal, un-natural nature of  act itself, even if it is consensual  makes it  criminal . Hence, what is natural or not natural is for the society to decide and the onus was pushed  on to the legislature and taken away from the judiciary. Secondly there are instances of sodomy and other unnatural sexual crimes in society which article 377 protects , which the judges felt should be given due credence. On the other side  critics can always say that when the High Court has already debated the matter in length, should a two member bench take a moral stand and throw the dirty linen to the legislature, rather than cleaning it themselves. Why the  Supreme Court who  infringes into many areas which normally falls in the domain of the legislature, found this case to be put in the reverse gear?

Well the truth is on our notion of sexuality as an expression of love: Culturally and religiously we were made to believe that sex is an act for procreation and as a sacred and secret act. From that closet we are now slowly emerging to accept the fact that it is also an expression of love. Even though homosexuality, like prostitution did exist in our social milieu from time immemorial , we are still not ready to accept it as natural, even after scientific evidence proves that , same gender attraction is created by the brain and not by perversion of the mind. Neuropsychiatry proves beyond doubt that feelings and emotions , are based on electrical sensations created by neurotransmitters in the brain. So if you are in good mood and ecstatic, it is because of serotonin and nor -epinephrine levels in your brain being  high and if it is less then you are sad. Similarly dopamine makes you fall in love. The electrical signals created by those hundreds of discovered and undiscovered neuro -transmitters in our brain synapses creates the phenomenon called mind and its consequent thoughts , emotions and deeds. Homosexuality is similarly  a physiological phenomenon and homosexuals are born as homosexuals, and they feel attracted to their same gender, and since they love each other, they express it and derive pleasure . They might be using their fingers, their mouth or thighs or even their anuses for that matter, but what is your problem as along as it is not a problem for them and for you ?

As like the unknown elephant for the blind men of Industan, our modern day blind men too don't realize that heterosexuals and homosexuals are tweedledum and tweedledee , differing only on the HOLE but not on the WHOLE:

GIVE THEM EQUAL RIGHTS.

Sanyasi...

 

Media Trails and Intelectual masturbations:

Dear all

Many years before mainly after the Prasar Bharati act and the liberalization of media, India witnessed,  reverberation of our fifth estate. In exposing corruption and building up of public opinion, our media performed a stupendous task. Its role in building up public opinion did have a positive effect on our public policy. However somehow on this route something foul is taking place. Our Supreme Court have smelled the rot and have asked the state government on how much an Investigating officer should brief media on a criminal case and has asked for a report on this.

Let us take the most recent cases. Notwithstanding the fact that Tarun Tejpal was alleged to have attempted to violate the modesty of a junior colleague, the media houses was on a continuous tirade against the magazine tehelka and its management. In our national media we could see a crusade of self-interest. An opportunity for rival media houses to pounce on the fallen hero, and a smooth revenge for a political party to settle their scores. The victimized journalist’s molestation cry is far heard than the brutal rape and murder of a north eastern women .Similarly an intern files complain on her superior judge for sexual harassment after 11 months giving the  right opportunity for the vested interest to malign the credentials of an honorable judge who was critical about some political party. The trial and judgment is already done by the media. 

Media trails, character assassination and defamation has now become the order of the day among the elite in India. They are teaching the rest of the world the wonderful art of mud-slinging. In an election year this also acts as cannon fodder to political rivals in settling scores.

 India’s public discourses have become a farce with any bedroom news worth a sensation becoming national debates. Our media selected intelligentsia is seen daily blabbering on gender and women’s right while ordinary women flock still  out there  suffering with the social evils of dowry death , female infanticide and malnutrition . Our High net worth Intellectuals opine and tweet their egos and is well cashed by the media and its cronies.

At a time when India need to set a social and economic agenda for its future, this media masala has stooped into an intellectual masturbation giving  only them a one sided pleasure  but making us the audience puke:

Sanyasi

In search of reality: Seeing a tip of an Iceberg:

Dear all

As we emerge in festivities and with an upcoming new year let us ponder over the triviality of our existence and go beyond the ritualism that we practice and make an effort in understanding reality, if at all it is real

In the 18^th Century the Irish philosopher George Berkeley propounded the theory of subjective idealism in a paper which was named ‘’ the new theory of vision’’. He propounded through this theory that objects  we see are nothing but perception of light seen in colour and shape. This thought process was further developed by the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in his theory of absolute idealism. According to Hegel, for human consciousness (which is the subject), the perception of the material world (which is the object) is based on a relationship between both, through the medium of thought. To make it simple, if you are standing on a floor and observing it, in your mind (observer/subject) the floor (observed/object) is a solid surface. If you are instantly hypnotized and told by the hypnotizer that you are on a pool of water, the mind perceives the floor as water. So here the thought creates the relationship between the object and subject.

This theory was further rationalised by the theory of transcendental idealism by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. In  his treatise the critique of reason which he published in 1781,Kant argued that our experiences are structured by our minds. He wrote that ‘’ we never have direct experience of things and what we do experience is the phenomenal world as conveyed by our senses. 

 For any student of Vedanta, genesis of these thoughts can be traced to the philosophical ponderings of our seers, who believed that the sensible external world is a perception of the consciousness.  According to A Parthasarathy from the Mumbai based Vedanta Academy (readers are recommended to read his book Vedanta Treatise ) perception is the interplay (identity or relation of Hegel )  of  the internal world of consciousness (object) to the subject. Let me quote him “Let us examine the perception of a flower. As per Vedanta the quality attribute of the flower exist in the flower as an object. The thought of the flower exist in the mind as a subject. The union of the thought and quality of the flower produces it”.

Indian philosophers from time immemorial believed in the illusion of the world which they referred as Ma (not) Ya (that) meaning ‘’not that’’ we see. The best definition of this is seen in the second verse of the Chatusloki Bhagavatam (canto 2 Srimad Bhagavatam) which reads

Ru- thertham Yad Pratiyeta Na Pratiyeta Cha Atmani

Tad vidyad Aatmano Maayaam Yatha bhaaso Yada Tama:

It means - Besides the real existence whatever is experienced is not that is experienced by the soul but that experienced by you which is    MaYa ,like a reflection in  darkness-

It is this reflection (Abasa) in darkness (Tama) which later became part of the quantum string theory and was called as the holographic principle by Gerard Hooft, the 1999 Nobel Prize winner and Dutch Physicist. For him the whole universe is an holographic reflection of a two dimensional information structure painted over a space-time horizon. His theory was later interpreted   by a physicist from the university of London named David Bohm who was a protégé of Einstein. Along with Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram they developed a new way of looking at the universe. (Please read The Holographic Universe: The revolutionary theory of reality: Harper Collins 2011.) Their work explains on the quantum levels of existence distinct from the observed and experienced universe.

In 1975 , Fritjof capra , the Austrian born American Physicist wrote Tao of Physics, which is probably the first book written  on ‘’scientific orientalism’’ exploring the parallelism between modern physics and ancient Indian wisdom . I quote from the book “Quantum theory reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated "building blocks," but rather appears as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of the whole. These relations always include the observer in an essential way. The human observer constitutes the final link in the chain of observational processes, and the properties of any atomic object can be understood only in terms of the object's interaction with the observer.”  It is this dichotomy between the perceived and the real world , makes us think of a realm which is actually real and to which we are all part of . Our ancient rishis called this  as Brahma ( Sarvan Khalidam Brahma ) embroiled in an expanding egg like formation (brahmandam). In reality beyond our perceived knowledge of our reality, we are scientifically proved to be part of the Universal energy level. We are only experiencing a state of differentiated identity from a common whole .The ancient Indian sankhya philosophers explained this as a differentiation of the   prakriti from the purusha. According to them prakriti is a space-time conundrum which is maya which I and you believe is our world, where our feeling and aspiration (Kamaartha-moham) dwell. It is the place where we love and hate and a place we enquire and seek which in itself is not real but only a holographic projection. However it is for a moment of that experience that we are all here, beyond which I,  you and all are just  quantum states of consciousness  . We are all like the series of pots emerging from an artful potter’s wheel, to be broken back to mud and re-emerge as another new pot.

As science and philosophy merges let us cherish, and celebrate the moment of life with mutual acceptance and respect. While reading stories of horror, of death, destruction , violence and hate , I feel let the humanity be taught the science of Vedanta and meta physics and made to realize that peace and love is what only that exists , the rest of the feelings being hallucinations and what that exists is one , which is complete and universal .  I conclude this article by a verse from Isha Upanishad

Purnamadah Purnamidam
Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya
Purnameva Vashishyate
Om shanti, shanti, shanti

Sanyasi:

Narendra Modi : The PM designate: A Choice less Choice:

The BJP parliamentary board is likely to meet and announce that Narendra Modi is the Prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 General Election in India : As per press reports, veteran leader L K Advani and his mentee Sushma Swaraj , has opposed the move. On the eve of this announcement, let me put forward three questions  on What it makes to be a Prime Minister of India and you readers think and decide on how much is NaMo ( Narendra Modi) eligible as per this questioned  criteria .

1   Nationally recognized and acceptable?It is said that the legacy of the congress party in the post      independent era has its genesis on Mahatma Gandhi anointing Jawaharlal Nehru as his       successor. The socialistic and secular credentials of Nehru outweighed the feudal and rightist lineage of Sardar patel in this choice exercised by the father of the nation. Nehru was a nationally accepted leader irrespective of party affiliation- a charisma later inherited by his family and carried forward even now to the fourth generation-  Atal Behari Vajpayee was also viewed as a moderate leader and Statesman , in the whole of the country irrespective of his being the leader of a right wing political party.The present Prime Minister did acclaim a nationalist credential as India's path breaking Finance Minister:On these yard sticks, where do NaMo stand?

2   Administrative experience in a National Level?All former Prime Ministers excepting the       makeshift PM Deve Gowda had considerable exposure in handling national issues. Does NaMo have it?

3 Crossing the Language barrier?Much has been done unsuccessfully  in camouflaging the national identity of INDIA to that of the Hindi language. Setting aside the diverse and culturally richer languages of India, efforts in officiating Hindi hitherto have been resisted by people who don't speak that  language as their  mother tongue. Here the Queen's language whether we like it or not have been an acceptable lingua franca and  hence all Prime Ministers of India were fluent and converse in that language whenever they addressed the non-Hindi speaking people which made them comfortable ?Will NaMo do it ?

On other counts too like ‘’NaMo being a successful Chief Minister’’ is not a singular eligibility, as the chief ministers of Bihar,Tripura, Goa and TamilNadu were all  equally successful .

In spite of all this what makes NaMo the numero uno for the Prime minister post? This is not a result of  marketing gimmicks or any  type of social media blitzkrieg , but due to the  prevailing lack of trust and the leadership vacuum that this country faces. The level of energy and youthfulness lacking on our existing political establishment and the need for a leader ,  who is selfless and incorrupt have made NaMo a better choice in spite of all the ineligibility cited against the above three questions. The determination and strength shown by him  in the caricatured and pinpointed  political mudslinging and International isolation  he faced since the Gujarat riots , did make the nation realize that it was unfair to put the whole blame on him.

As he is poised to surpass this milestone and as cited earlier in this blog (Modification of theBJP June 9,2013 ) , the inner conscience of NaMo should act in paving way for Advanji to lead ....... If Sonia Gandhi can listen to this call in the last minute, why not our NaMo.....  Sanyasi